Refrigerating apparatus and process



H. L. FORMAN REFRIGERATING- APPARATUS AND PROCESS May 19, 1936.

Original Fiied Aug. 25, 19:52

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 arm y 1936. H. L. FORMAN Re. 19,973

' REFRIGERATING APPARATUS AND PROCESS Original Filed Aug. 25; 1932 2 Sh'ets-Sheet- 2 1 w mvizrwoa ii flfiliifiiifififl rhn ' ATTORNEYS.

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UNITED STATES PATENT orrics REFRIGERATING APPARATUS AND PROCESS Howard L. For-man, Kitchawan, N. Y.

' Original No. 1,908,968, dated May 16, 1933, Serial No. 630,349, August 25, 1932. Application for reissue January 2,1934, Serial No. 705,005

26 Claims. (01. 62-104).

This invention relates toarefrigerating method This coil receives refrigerant at a suitably low and apparatus designed especially for preservatemperature, which may bring the coil to as low tion and display of fish, although applicable also as 20 F., so that vapor in the chamber will conto other substances. geal upon its surface. At intervals the circula The preservation of fish in display cases or tion of refrigerant is interrupted and the con.- 5 other refrigerators involves a diflicult problem. gelation permitted to thaw off. This coil thus Fish require to be kept moist, and the use of 'acts intermittently to cool the chamber.

mechanical refrigeration has been found unde- The accompanying drawings show a preferred sirable because the air within the refrigerator is embodiment of the invention. 10 kept too dry. Heretofore the most. practical Figure l is a vertical, transverse section. 10

means, and that adopted by practically all fish Fig. 2 is a vertical, longitudinal section. dealers, has been to use a simple display case Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view, illustrating with a glass front or top having a deep tray of means for controlling the intermittent fiow of ice on which the fish are laid in one or more spray Water.

layers, whereby they are kept sufllciently cool Fig. iis a'section of the lower part of the ap- 15 and moist. This method involves frequent vreparatu's, corresponding to Fig. ,1, and showing a charging with broken ice, and is expensive, but modified construction. on the whole it has been found more practical Referring to the drawings, A is the refrigerator than any other system. casing of any usual or suitable construction,- hav- The present invention aims to provide a re-' g t e e e y i and O t Walls. and .20

- frigerating show case or other storage chamber non-conducting filling B between them. The in which fish or the like can be successfully precasing is preferably a display case having a large served and displayed for sale or stored, the 0001- front Open g C, Covered With triple p a glass ing means being artificial or electric refrigerafor conserving the internal temperature. At the tion, whereby to effect a saving of about twoback is an opening D for getting access to the g5 thirds the cost of preserving fish in, ice-cooled interior for'placing'a d removing its fish other display cases. The invention aims, on the one contents being preserved, a this s Closed by One hand-1 to keep the fish sufliciently moist and at or mo e d001.S 0 Windows which may be of the the same time to guard against freezing which hinged or sliding type. Fig.1 shows a convenient has been a fault of the attempts at mechanical shelf F, and beneath this another 600 G for 30 refrigeration heretofore. gettingaccem to a lower compartment of the To these ends this invention .provides a rerefrigerator chamber; Within the chamber are frigerator casing having a chamber preferably of any Su table number of Shelves racks H, H, 011 the upright type, which may have suitable glass which the fish or other substances are supported doors or windows for display and access, and suitand disp ay d- 35 able racks or shelves for carrying the fish or In the bottom or lower portion of the refrigerother articles. At the bottom or lower part of ator asin or other-convenient arrangement is the chamber is an ice-water bath containing an ice water bath J, preferably formed of a tank fresh water or dilute brine, which is maintained K with an open top and cooled by a chill coil L -40 at a low temperature as near as is practicable of pipes through which a e e 'a s circula d. 40 to the freezing point, but usually without form- This coil is preferably enclosed in a jacket M, ing ice,say at 32-34? F. A chill'coil preserves containing a liquid N of low freezing point, such this water bath at the required temperature. as glycerine or dense brine, which conveys heat From the bath the cold water is drawn at stated .units from the water or other liquid in J to the intervals by a pump, and is showered or othercell L. This-jacket is preferably closed at the 45 wise discharged through spray pipes or sprinklers top by an inwardly-sloping cover a, the purpose upon the shelves or trays of fish. Means are of which is to return the drippings of sprayed ice provided for stopping the spray of cold liquid water or other cold liquid back into the bath. whenever the refrigerating chamber is opened to From the bottom of the tank K, and prefer I get access to its contents. At the top or upper ably protected by a strainerb, leads a pipe 0, 50

l part of the refrigerator chamber is a refrigerwhich runs to the suction of a circulating pump ating unit or element hereinafter referred to as P, from the discharge of which leads a pipe Q a chill coil or self-defrosting coil adapted to which feeds a series of branch pipes R, R, which maintain the air within the refrigerator at a; are perforated and serve as spray pipes or sprintemperature preferably of about 35 to 40 F. klers for showering, spraying or otherwise sub- 55 2 dividing the cold liquid pumped from the bath J and distributing it onto the fish or other articles designed to operate intermittently at any suitable intervals,-say, once every thirty or sixty minutes,and to continue in operation each time for a brief period,-say, one or two minutes. The

effect of this is to moisten the fish or other articles with cold liquid often enough to keep them damp and fresh, but without freezing them. If the bath J is of water, it is kept from freezing by a suitable regulation of the temperature in the chill coilL. Instead, however, the bath may be of brine automatically kept at a temperature not lower than25 F., or well above the freezing point of the particular substancesor articles to be preserved.

At the top or upper part of the refrigerating chamber is mounted a non-frosting coil U, which is preferably operated as part of a self-defrosting cycle. The coil U is cooled by a refrigerant to preferably about 20 F., or enough belowvthe freezing point to cause vapor to congeal upon its surface, thus taking up some of the excess humidity within the chamber. The thawing of! of the congelation upon this chill coil at intervals is accomplished by automatically shutting ofi the supply of refrigerant until the coil warms sufllciently to thaw off the accumulated frost, for which purpose a temperature of, say,- 40 F. is suitable.

Underneath the coil U is a battle plate S, sloping downward toward the rear, which has two functions,namely, to direct the cooled air down ward at the rear, causing it to circulate, as shown by the arrows :t; and to cause the drip during the thawing to fall to the rear of the layers of fish or other articles exposed on 'the shelves H, H.

The alternation of cooling and warming of the coil U may be accomplished by a valve operated by a timing mechanism, but is preferably accomplished by the application of a two-temperature valve W in the dischargepipe g, leading.

from the coil. The admission of refrigerant to the coil U is determined by an expansion valve c under control of a thermostat d.- A similar expansion valve e, controlled by a thermostat f, is shown for controlling the temperature in thechill coil L. The compressed, cooled refrigerant coming from the usual condensing coil is introduced through a pipe V, which leads to the respective expansion valves and e in the usual manner. The outlet pipe 0 from-the upper coil and the outlet pipe 0' from the lower coil unite in a return refrigerant pipe x; leading back in the well-understood manner to themechanical refrigerating mechanism, which may be of any of the well known makes, and may operate on any suitable refrigerating medium such as am.- mcnia, sulphur, dioxide, methyl chloride, etc.

Z is a timing device which may be an ordinary clock, or may be anelectric motor driven train adapted at prescribed intervals to operate a circuit which may control the electric motor T, or may operate the valve W or both. While this timing device may be variously constructed, it

may, for example, be of the construction shown H. u. in Fig. 3', where an electric mor n, fedwfrom brushes'i taking current fromcircuit leads. 1, has on. its spindle a worm k, actuating a reducing'train m m, terminating in a circuit closing cam n adapted at each revolution to force together contact springs p. p,

and thereby close the circuit in a branch a leadingto the brushes 1' feeding current to electric motor T. Any clockwork may be substituted for the motor h and reducing train for operating the circuit closer n p.

Whenever the salesman opens the rear door or window E, it is important to insure that there shall be no discharge of liquid within the refrigerator during the time that this door or window is open. For this purpose a circuit breaker is applied to one or to each of these doors which areshown as sliding doors. So long asthe doors -'are closed, the circuit is complete, and the normal spray operation occurs at the prescribed intervals; but when either door is opened, the circuit is broken, with the result of preventing or interrupting the spraying operation until the door is again closed. This may be variously accomplished, as by use of any of the known electric switches applicable toecloset doors or the like. As a simple illustration I have shown in Fig.3 a suitable circuit breaker. A is a fragment of the casing of the refrigerator having a slideway s in which slides the sash of the door E, which is shown slightly open. when closed it acts against a plunger t, and pushes it back against the stress of a spring 13' to close together two contact springs u it which are introduced in thecircuit q, which feeds the electric motor T. On opening the door E, the plunger t springs to the position shown, where the contact spring 11. moves out of contact with its mate, thereby breaking the circuit and preventing the energizing of the motor if the timing device should close the circuit at p, or stopping the motor if the circuit should happen to be already closed.

The improved refrigerating show case provided by thisinvention has important practical advantages. While effecting an important economy as compared with the use of ice, it avoids injury to the fish by reason of the dry air usually within mechanical refrigerators, keeps alive the natural moisture of slimewith which the scales of the fish are coated, and avoids all liability of freezing the fish. It has been found by practical test to keep fish in a fresh and well-preserved condition for two weeks or even longer, whereas withthe usual ice cooling they can be so kept for only three to five days at the most. The dealer is thus saved practically all of the loss by spoilage heretofore encountered, while the fish as a food product is kept in its most sanitary condition, thereby conserving the public health. The ice water or other liquid in the bath J is pumped around and used over and over again until such time as the entire refrigerator requires cleaning, which should be done at intervals of one or two weeks. There is thus an important economy as compared with continual use of a fresh supply of water for spraying, especially where the water supply is subject to a high meter charge.

In those cases where it is preferred tosprinkle or spray always with fresh water, and then run this water to waste, the construction shown in Fig. 4 may be used. In this case the pool J is replaced .by a chill system Y, which may consistof drums, as shown, or of any suitable coil im-- mersed in a liquid bath J, which, like the'bathJ, is cooled by a chill coil L through a brine or' glycerine jacket N. Water from the service main comes in through pipe 0', flows through the cooling system Y, and passes out by pipe Q (which serves the purpose ,ofthe'pipe Q in the previous construction) and is then discharged-through the .spray pipes R, of which only one shown. The

sprayed or sprinkled water is caught in a tray 0, which closes over the top of the bath J, and is drained off by a pipe w, leading to the sewer. The flow under pressure through pipes O Q may be accomplished by a motor driven pump P, as in the previous construction; but where the service flow is under sufficiently high pressure, the circulating pump may be dispensed with, and the intermittent now controlled by a valve y operated by a solenoid 2, which may be located in the circuit q, shown in Fig. 3. The. operation is the same as before, the flow of spray water taking place at intervals of, say, thirty minutes, and continuing for perhaps one or two minutes under control of the timing device Z, and being. stopped by the opening of the door E, as already described.

The construction shown in Fig. 4 thus differs from that first described in that fresh service water is introduced at each spraying or showering operation, being cooled to a suitably low temperav ture by a refrigerating system, which,.for convenience, is shown located within the refrigerator casing. It is well known in the art of mechanical refrigeration that the refrigerating or air-conditioning unit or system may be located within the casing as is done in self-contained refrigerators, or may be exterior thereto with suitably connected conduits and means for circulating the air, as in the known diffuser or humidraft systems or other forced draft means.

For illuminating the interior of the refrigerating chamber it is desirable to provide a lamp 1 covered by a deflecting shield in the customary manner.

From the foregoing it will be seen that my invention provides a new method of' preserving, storing and displaying fish, or other food articles or perishable products, whereby the same are not frozen, as has been the previous practice, and are kept moist and fresh. It is essentialto this method that the water or other moistening or cooling liquid be introduced at suitable intervals and distributed over thefish or other perishable products, the latter being kept at a temperature slightly above the freezing point. This refrigeration of the products is obtained mainly bythe cooling of the air, and partly by the cooling of the liquidv to a similarly low-temperature; but as the showering occurs during only a small fraction of the total time the cooling by refrigerated air accomplishes the principal result, the showering having effect chiefly to moisten the products, for-which it must be so cold as not to detract from the refrigerating effect. i

For the preservation offish experience has shown that the best results are attained-with a spraying for about to seconds at intervals of about three hours.

In the case of dealing with fish, etc., already frozen, the process has the advantage of thawing the same very slowly, and afterward holding them vat a temperature approaching the freezing point.

It is to be understood that the term "spray as used herein includes any form of subdivided .water such as to distribute it with sufflcient uniformity over the perishable products to be preserved.

In some cases it may be desirable to use a pre-' servative spray. In such case,' for example, a 0.1

, per cent. solution of benzoate of soda may be used as the material for the bath J.

The invention is susceptible of various other modifications according to the circumstances, and I to comply with any special demands, its construction being subject to change according to the skill or judgment of experts in the art of refriginto said cold bath.

eration for adapting it to any given set of conditions.

What I claim is:

1. A refrigeratorcasing having within it a cold bath beneath, a chill coil above, an intermediate shelf for'receiving the articles to be preserved, a

spray pipe located to discharge spray thereupon,

means for discharging a cooling liquid at inter-v vals through said spray pipe, and refrigerating means for cooling said liquid at a temperature approximating the freezing point, but insufficiently low to freeze the articles to be preserved,

and for cooling said chill coil to maintain the enclosed air within the casing at a refrigerating temperature.

2. A refrigerator according to claim 1, the chill wardly to discharge drip therefrom and direct the descending air toward the rear of the refrigerator chamber.

5. A refrigerator according to claim 1, having means for drawing liquid from said cold bath beneath, and delivering same to said spray pipes.

6. A refrigerator according to claim 1, having means for drawing liquid from'said cold bathv beneath, and delivering same to said spray pipes, and means for draining the sprayed liquid back 7. A refrigerator according to claim 1, having .a water supply pipe passing into cooling contact with said cold bath beneath and discharging to said spray pipe, whereby to spray fresh cold water, and a drain for discharging the, water so sprayed. n

8. A refrigerator according to claim 1, having a cold bath beneath enclosed within a jacket, the

refrigerating means therefor comprising a coilwithin said jacket, and a non-congealable liquid insaid jacket for transferring heat units from said bath to said chill coil.

9. A refrigerator according to claim 1, the refrigerating means having-automatic temperature control means adapted to maintain the cold bath beneath at a temperature barely above freezing, and to control the temperature of the chill coil above to maintain the enclosed air within the casing at approximately to F.

10. A refrigerator according to claim 1, having a timing device connected to control the intermittent spraying of liquid todischarge the same at approximately uniform intervals.

11. A refrigerator according to claim 1, having a door for getting access to-i ts interior, and means actuated upon the opening of said door to arrest the spraying of liquid, said means comprising an electric circuit'controlling the flow of liquid to the spray pipe, and a .circuit breaker operated by the door.

13. A refrigerator according to claim 1, having the ice the refrigerator, and said circuit breaker operativelyconnected to said door.

14. A refrigerator comprising a preserving chamber, means in said chamber for supporting articles to be preserved, means for distributing a precooled liquid over said articles at intermittent intervals of short duration as compared with intervening periods of a duration such as to permit the atmosphere in the chamber-t0 clear of excess moisture due to supersaturation and remain clear for a relatively large proportion of the time, and refrigerating means for cooling the air in said chamber and for precooling the liquid to be distributed to temperatures sufliciently low to keep such articles at or near the freezing point but not so low as to freeze them.

15. A refrigerator according to claim 14, the chill coil having means for periodically stopping the circulation of refrigerant thereto to permit the ice congealed thereon to thaw off therefrom.-

16. A refrigerator according to claim 14, the chill coil having means for periodically stopping the circulation of refrigerant thereto to permit congealed thereon to thaw off therefrom, and a baffle plate beneath such coil for receiving the drip therefrom. l

17. A refrigerating display case having a support for the articles to be preserved, a chill coil, a sprinkling device for showering a cooling liquid upon such articles, a water supply pipe for said sprinkling device, refrigerating means for cooling the chill coil-and the water in said supply pipe, and a drain for discharging the water falling from said articles. v

18. A refrigerator having a support for the ar-' ticles to be preserved, a chill coil, a sprinkling device for intermittently showering a cooling liquid upon such articles, means for discharging said liquid at recurrent intervals of time, and refrigcrating means for maintaining the chill coil at a temperature such as to keep the air within the refrigerator-at approximately 35 to 40 F. and for cooling the showered liquid to a temperature barely above freezing.

19. A refrigerator according to claim l.4, having a timing device to control the intermittent supply of liquid to the distributing means.

20. A method of preserving fish or other perishable articles, consisting in distributing over them at time intervals of short duration, as compared with intervening intervals, a chilling liquid precooled to a temperature approximating the freezing point, but not so low as to freeze them, the duration of the intervals of time intervening between the intervals of liquid distribution being such as. to permit the atmosphere about the articles to clear of excess moisture due to supersaturation and remain clear for a material PTO? portion of the time.

21. A method of preserving fish or other'perishable articles, consisting in distributing over them duration to permit the atmosphere in the case at time intervalsof short duration, as compared with intervening intervals, a. precooled chilling liquid while maintaining them at a temperature approximating the freezing point, but not so low as to freeze them, the duration of the intervals of time intervening between the intervals of liquid distribution being such as to permit the atmosphere about the articles to clear of excess moisture due to supersaturation and remain clear for a material proportion of the time.

22. A method of preserving fish or other perishable articles, consisting in maintaining them at a temperature approximating the freezing point, but no so low as to freeze them, and showering them with precooled water at intermittent intervals of a frequency such as to keep them moist but such as to permit the surrounding atmosphere to clear of excess moisture due to supersaturation between thesuccessive showers. 23. A m hod of preserving fish or other perishable articles, consisting in placing them within a refrigerator chamber, maintaining the air therein at a. refrigerating temperature, and showering them intermittently with a precooled liquid, the air and liquid being maintained at temperatures near the freezing point but not sufiiciently low to freeze the "articles, the intervals between showers being of sufficient duration to permit the atmosphere in the chamber to clear of excess moisture due to supersaturation and remain clear for a material portion of the time.

24. A method of preserving and displaying fish or other perishable articles, consisting'in exposing them within a display case, maintaining them therein at a refrigerating temperature and showering them intermittently with a chilling liquid precooled to a temperature near the freezing point 'but not sufficiently low to freeze the articles, the

intervals between showers being of sufficient to clear of excess moisture due to supersaturation and remain clear for a material portion of the time.

25. Amethod of preserving fish or other perishable articles, consisting in showering them at 4 intermittent time intervals with ice water while maintaining them at a temperature approximating the freezing point, but not so low as to freeze them, the duration of the intervals of time between successive showers being such as' to permit the atmosphere about the articles to clear vof excess moisture due to supersaturation and remain clear for a material portion of the time- 26. A method of preserving fish orother perishable articles, consisting in placingthem with- 5 in a refrigerator chamber, maintaining the air therein at a refrigerating temperature and showering them at intervals with ice water at a temperature approximating the freezing point, but not solow as to freeze them, the intervals between showers being of sufficient duration to permit the atmosphere in the chamber to clear of excess moisture due to supersaturation and remain clear for a material portion of the time. I

HOWARD L. FQRMAN. 6 

